Parkmerced is a pioneering neighborhood revitalization effort that defines new standards of environmental sustainability and neighborhood livability. The program transforms a 1950s-era, car-centric neighborhood into a holistic urban ecology--a pedestrian-focused community that establishes a productive network of open space, applies evolving environmental technologies to reduce energy and water usage, and resolves automobile dependency by realigning public transit.

Project Facts

Site Area: 152 acres
Project Area: 11,200,000 ft²

Project Awards

2011 • Chicago Athenaeum • Green Good Design Award
2010 • AIA - California Council • Merit Award
2009 • AIA - San Francisco Chapter • Excellence in Urban Design: Honor Award
2009 • American Society of Landscape Architects - Northern California Chapter • Analysis, Research and Planning Category: Merit Award (led by Tom Leader Studio)

The Parkmerced Vision is a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform a large, aging housing complex and its surrounding area into a vibrant and walkable model sustainable community. The project includes a range of transportation options, traffic improvements, energy-efficient housing, a variety of neighborhood-serving amenities, retail, office, job centers, and usable green space.

The design and scale of the project, which at full build out will entail a 8,900-unit true transit-oriented development, is big enough to substantially reduce miles traveled by car and help achieve environmental and economic goals. The project will protect existing residents at Parkmerced from displacement and help to address the city’s current shortage of housing for households at all income levels.

Built in the 1950s to provide housing for military families after World War II, Parkmerced is currently a 3,221-unit rental apartment community, with a mix of low-rise garden apartments and mid-rise towers. Set within 152 acres, the site is similar in size to other San Francisco neighborhoods such as West Portal, Nob Hill, and the Inner Sunset. The project will construct a new social core, which will be within comfortable walking distance of the residences at Parkmerced and will thus allow residents to purchase groceries and other goods and services without the use of an automobile.

The project reroutes the existing Municipal Railway’s M-Oceanview line from its current alignment along 19th Avenue. This new alignment proceeds through the social core at Parkmerced, thus providing convenient transit access for both Parkmerced visitors and residents.